Title page
Contents
Acknowledgements 6
Key findings 7
Introduction 10
Background - biology of COVID-19 11
Overview of patenting activity related to COVID-19 13
Patent filings during 2020-2022 13
Filings and publication of COVID-19-related patent applications over time 14
COVID-19-related vaccine and therapeutic patent applicant profiles 16
Patent office COVID-19 strategies and actions 17
Licensing and other agreements related to COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics 22
Disclosure of sequences within COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutics patents 24
COVID-19 vaccines 25
Background - vaccine platforms 25
Speed of vaccine development 26
Vaccine patent landscape 27
Vaccine patent distribution by vaccine platform and published applicant location 28
Vaccine patent applicant collaborations 32
Vaccine authorization and development of key technologies 33
Vaccine adjuvant development 35
Vaccine patenting activity compared to global discussion around COVID-19 vaccines 37
Patterns in global COVID-19 vaccine use 38
COVID-19 vaccine booster patenting activity 39
COVID-19 therapeutics 41
Background - therapeutic categories 41
Therapeutics patent landscape 42
Therapeutic patent distribution by substance type and published applicant location 43
Therapeutics patent applicant collaborations 45
Highlights of patent filings related to COVID-19 therapeutics development 48
Small molecule therapeutics 48
Biologic therapeutics 49
Traditional medicine 54
Therapeutics for long COVID 55
Formulations of COVID-19 therapeutics 56
Perspectives 58
Annex 61
Acronyms 69
Glossary 70
References 74
Further reading 83
Table 1. Summary of SARS-CoV-2 variants 12
Table 2. Patent applications related to COVID-19 in general, COVID-19 vaccines and COVID-19 therapeutics, first published and filed January 2020 through September 2022 13
Table 3. Contribution to COVID-19-related vaccine and therapeutic datasets, by patent applicant profile 16
Table 4. Applicants with the most COVID-19-related vaccine patent application filings 16
Table 5. Applicants with the most COVID-19-related therapeutic patent application filings 17
Table 6. Categories of COVID-19 vaccine platform 25
Table 7. Distribution of COVID-19 vaccine patent applications across patent offices 27
Table 8. Distribution of COVID-19 vaccine patents across applicant location 28
Table 9. Distribution of COVID-19 vaccine patent applications across vaccine platforms and patent applicant locations 31
Table 10. Regional distribution of COVID-19-related patent applications across vaccine platforms 31
Table 11. Top patent applicant collaborators in COVID-19 vaccine patent applications 32
Table 12. Categories of COVID-19 therapeutics 41
Table 13. Distribution of COVID-19 therapeutic patent applications across patent offices 42
Table 14. Distribution of COVID-19 therapeutic patents across applicant locations 43
Table 15. Distribution of COVID-19 therapeutic patent applications across therapeutic categories and patent applicant locations 44
Table 16. Regional distribution of COVID-19-related patent applications across therapeutic categories 45
Table 17. Top patent applicant collaborators in COVID-19 therapeutic patent applications 46
Table 18. Distribution of long COVID patent applications across therapeutic categories 56
Table 19. Distribution of pharmaceutical formulation patent applications across applicant profiles 57
Table 20. Distribution of pharmaceutical formulation patent applications across therapeutic categories 57
Figure 1. The genomic landscape of SARS-CoV-2 11
Figure 2. Patent applications related to COVID-19, first filed and published January 2020 through September 2022, by patent filing and publication month 14
Figure 3. Patent applications related to COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics, first filed January 2020 through September 2022 15
Figure 4. Patent applications related to COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics, first published January 2020 through September 2022 15
Figure 5. Patent offices offering expedited COVID-19 application examination 18
Figure 6. Patent offices that had time limit options available during the COVID-19 pandemic 20
Figure 7. Patent offices that had fee relief options available during the COVID-19 pandemic 21
Figure 8. Agreements for COVID-19-related technology 23
Figure 9. Vaccine platforms and the ways in which they produce immunogens in cells 26
Figure 10. Distribution of COVID-19-related patent applications across vaccine platforms, earliest published month between January 2022 and September 2022 29
Figure 11. Network analysis of the top collaborating entities in COVID-19 vaccine patent applications 33
Figure 12. Authorization timeline for the first COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in humans 34
Figure 13. Adjuvant impact on vaccine efficacy 36
Figure 14. Distribution of COVID-19-related patent applications across therapeutic categories and subcategories, with earliest published month between January... 44
Figure 15. Network analysis of top collaborating entities in COVID-19 therapeutic patent applications 47
Figure 16. Distribution of patent applications related to COVID-19 traditional medicine therapeutics across applicant locations 55
Annex Tables
Table A1. Example COVID-19 vaccines undergoing clinical trials 67
Table A2. Example COVID-19 therapeutics in clinical trials 68
Annex Figures
Figure A1. Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) activities and contributions, 2020-2022 62
Figure A2. Flow of patent filings related to COVID-19 vaccines 63
Figure A3. Flow of patent filings related to COVID-19 therapeutics 64
Figure A4. Clinical trial phases 65
Figure A5. COVID-19 vaccines in clinical trials 66
Figure A6. COVID-19 therapeutics in clinical trials 67